Thursday marked the season finale of The X Factor, and the question on everyone's minds at the start of the evening was ... how is this show possibly going to stretch the announcement of who won to a whopping two hours?! With no performances by the contestants that will have any impact whatsoever on the result, and no sing-off, is that even possible? (Spoiler: yes.)

Of course, the other mystery was which of the three finalists - Tate Stevens, Carly Rose Sonenclar or Fifth Harmony - would actually walk away with the grand prize, a $5 million recording contract. But before we get to that, let's address the first query. Here's a breakdown of how exactly the show managed to balloon itself to 120 minutes, when the actual victory reveal took approximately two: